DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL
TRADE BOOST GROWTH AND FIGHT
POVERTY
Improved participation in global trade by developing countries is a
powerful lever for growth and can cut poverty. Commercial
opening encourages economic growth and helps create jobs by
developing markets, creating economies of scale and boosting
specialized production. Trade growth also encourages foreign
direct investment as well as the transfer of expertise and
technology.
That said, trade liberalization does not produce all the benefits one
might expect from it in terms of poverty reduction, particularly in
the least developed countries where produc tion is
disproportionately concentrated in the primary sector (agriculture,
fossil fuels and extractive industries) and in products that have not
undergone much processing and are vulnerable to volatility on the
global markets. In these countries, the benefits of trade
liberalization are all too often limited by structural inadequacies, a
lack of professional training and local constraints that inhibit what
can be produced, such as a lack of diversification, limited value
chains, difficulties in adapting to the market, lack of structure in
industrial chains, insufficient infrastructure, sub-standard products,
lack of institutional capacity and so on.

Technical cooperation to build trade capacity underpins the
evolution of the global trade system. A French aid plan to
build trade capacity has been in place since 2002, running
alongside multilateral contributions. A specific bilateral
programme was created – the Trade Capacity Building
Programme (TCBP). The TCBP is cofinanced by the Ministry
for the Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and implemented by Agence Française de
Développement (French Development Agency - AFD).
Support from the TCBP has a positive impact both on
beneficiary countries’ ability to assimilate the rules governing
international trade and their export trade performance. It
is part of the framework of national policy to support the
development of trade. It responds to a specific need,
identified by economic missions and AFD offices in close
collaboration with State partners and representatives from
the private sector.
The actions implemented come in the form of technical
assistance, training and awareness raising, sectoral studies
and funding for equipment and small everyday items. The
TCBP can be linked to other structural funding from AFD
or other funding bodies.

To respond to these challenges, the international community is
providing aid to help developing countries benefit more from
trade.

BUILDING TRADE CAPACITY
TO IMPROVE INTEGRATION INTO
THE GLOBAL TRADE SYSTEM

Autonomous port at Pointe Noire, Congo-Brazzaville

TCBP STRATEG

TCBP projects cover four main areas of intervention:

1

2

Structuring the entrepreneurial fabric is a prerequisite for
developing trade. To enable this, the TCBP increases the capacity
of intermediary organisations that represent the production
sector and supports the structuring and development of
flourishing industries as well as systems for promoting exports;

Over 10 years, the TCBP
has supported 60 projects
in 39 countries with
a total value of
EUR 72 million in grants.
60% of commitments
were made
in sub-Saharan Africa

TUNISIA

MOROCCO

PALESTINIAN
TERRITORIES

JORDAN

ALGERIA

2

CAPE VERDE

6

GAMBIA

GUINEA BISSAU

MALI

MAURITANIA

SENEGAL

2 3 4 5 6
5 6
2 5 6 2 5 6
GUINEA

SIERRA LEONE
LIBERIA

6
6

2 3 4
5 6

NIGER

2 3 4
5 6 2
2
4 4
2 4
3
5 5
5 6
5
6 6
BURKINA
FASO

CÔTE D’IVOIRE

CHAD

2 5 6

2 5

SUDAN

BENIN

NIGERIA

5 6

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

2 5

CAMEROON

2 3 5

TOGO
EQUATORIAL
GUINEA

GHANA
SAO TOME

2 5
2 5

2
5

UGANDA

KENYA

5

CONGO
BURUNDI

GABON
COMORES

5
MALAWI

5
7

ZAMBIA

7

LAOS

7
MADAGASCAR

ZIMBABWE

NAMIBIA

7

MOZAMBIQUE

7

5

BOTSWANA

7
7

SWAZILAND

SOUTH AFRICA

7

1
THAILAND

1

VIETNAM

1

1
CAMBODIA

HAITI

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

MAURITIUS

GIC PRIORITIES

3

The TCBP aims to lift non-tariff trade barriers (technical
norms, SPS, certification etc.) that could present a serious
hindrance to trade development in developing countries.

4

Fair trade enables the creation of economic opportunities for the most
vulnerable producers. The TCBP supports collectively organising new
production and distribution circuits for the international market, based on
social, economic and environmental norms.

The TCBP has a structuring effect and is innovative. The TCBP
aims to increase – qualitatively and quantitatively – the added
value contained within partner country exports.
To achieve this, the projects support different types of actors
(State services, regional institutions and intermediary organisations
representing the private sector and companies) via actions tailored
to their specific needs (technical assistance, training, equipment
etc.).
The TCBP also has a dedicated support fund for project preidentification and complementary interventions. Innovative
projects are selected according to the example they set and the
potential they have to create a knock-on effect on the dynamism
of the private sector

STRUCTURING THE ENTREPRENEURIAL
FABRIC VIA THE CLUSTER APPROACH:

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
IN TUNISIA
A cluster is a collection of
companies operating in the same
sector or the same value chain
and located in the same area.
Faced with shared competitive
challenges, they work with local
and central public institutions,
financial institutions, enterprise support services, universities
and professional training centres. Support for clusters is part
of AFD’s development strategy for small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) and its trade support strategy and
represents one way of enabling SMEs to develop better, in
a more balanced way and with stronger connections to the
SME environment.

WEST AFRICA
SUPPORT FOR THE REGIONAL PLAN TO
COMBAT AND MONITOR FRUIT FLIES
The most visible phytosanitary problem for the horticultural sector
in West Africa is fruit flies because it directly affects exports
(particularly mangoes) to the European Union as well as trade in
other products (citrus fruits, papaya, melons, peppers) in the subregion. As part of a common agricultural policy (regional agricultural
investment plan), ECOWAS has decided to take certain measures.
It has carried out this intervention using funding from the EU’s
regional indicator programme, which handed responsibility for
implementation to AFD. This regional intervention carried out by
an international organisation and with collaboration from different
funders is interesting for several reasons.
The project makes it possible to intervene in the areas of hygiene
and food security and to grow producer revenues by exporting
quality products that meet international norms.
The project helps organise monitoring of fruit fly infestation levels
at national and regional levels. If necessary, it also helps in the
process of issuing alerts and carrying out rapid reactions.
Furthermore, the regional coordination of national actions against
fruit flies is reinforced on three levels: preventative action by raising
awareness of best practices across the sub-region; more intensive
action in heavily infested areas identified by alerts; and highly
intensive action/eradication in more limited areas but with great
economic potential.
In addition, a capacity building component aimed at national
monitoring organisations is being implemented.

From an initial number of 16, the number of cluster members
has more than doubled, with good geographic and subsectoral distribution (mechanical, electronics, new
technology etc.). Ten collaborative projects have been
identified and initiated.

In perfect synergy with Tunisia’s industrial strategy to 2016,
AFD gave a grant in December 2010 to the Sousse
Competitive Hub Company (SPCS) to facilitate and
accompany implementation of a pilot electrical engineering
cluster and to structure the sector by creating the Tunisia
Electrical Engineering Cluster (CMT) in order to consolidate
the clustering effect (events and cofinancing for collaborative
projects).

PROMOTING FAIR TRADE
Fair trade is a promising approach to increasing revenues for
marginalized populations and structuring agricultural production
chains in the South within the context of a growing willingness
among consumers to look for meaning in their purchases.
However, compared to other global regions, West Africa is a
region with a limited quantity of certified volumes because fair
trade production there is relatively recent. In this context, AFD,
via the TCBP, and the French Global Environment Fund have
decided to link up for a project funding the organization Fair
Trade Africa (FTA) in order to give regional impetus to the
development of fair trade in West Africa. This will also help
support innovative new approaches based on fair trade and
preserving biodiversity. This project with a total budget of
€4.5 million (of which €2.9 million is from the TCBP) aims to:

H
elp structure production chains in the South by developing
fair trade;
T
est the development potential of South-South fair trade
production chains;
R
einforce the role of producer organisations in the
governance of international fair trade labelling;

Improve the visibility of fair trade as a sustainable
development tool and in particular for protecting biodiversity.
The project, which is targeting six countries (Burkina Faso, Côte
d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Senegal) and five production lines
(cocoa, shea, fruit, cashew nuts and handicrafts), includes three
elements:
T
he first element is support for “fair trade and biodiversity
protection in West Africa”, which will fund, following a call
for proposals, the reinforcement of producer organization
capacities in production, quality management, market access
and biodiversity preservation;
T
he second element aims to structure and reinforce FO
representation networks and those of their regional and
national platforms that are involved in fair trade and develop
their activities;
T
he third element of the project envisages specific activities
to measure and monitor the environmental impact of projects
financed by the Facility, a study on the development potential
of trade labelled South-South and the final project evaluation.

THE EXAMPLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE BOARD
OF MADAGASCAR (ITBM)
Before 2010 Madagascar did not have a public or private organization dedicated to
exports. AFD wanted to support an initiative by representatives from the big employers
organisations and the main chambers of commerce to create what is now one of the eight
organisations worldwide with a completely private base whose mission it is to provide
export support.

Alongside the chambers of commerce and professional unions, AFD is financing a resident
technical assistant whose job is to carry out a transfer of knowledge about international
trade and to support ITBM in its strategy and functioning. ITBM’s aim is to become an
information and training centre for exporting companies and chambers of commerce (it will compile a database of data on external
markets and regulations) and a one-stop shop for the formalities Madagascan exporters have to go through.
ITBM will support those companies wishing to restructure in order to export (forming or developing clusters of companies) and
will also manage a start up fund to promote exports from provincial chambers of commerce and industry. ITBM is also collaborating
with the Cap Export programme, which is also funded by the TCBP, managed by the Franco-Madagascan Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (CCIFM), which is cofinancing the concrete actions that exporters are undertaking to conquer markets (market
studies etc.).

AFD supports the development of Protected Geographical
Indications (PGI), which highlight a region’s characteristic
produce, guarantee its quality and fight against counterfeits by
protecting the linking of a unique region’s name to a product
(natural or manufactured). Thanks to technical assistance from
the International Agricultural Research Cooperation Centre
(CIRAD), AFD is helping the African Organisation for Intellectual
Property (OAPI) to acquire the necessary skills for creating
PGIs in Africa (elaboration and implementation of procedures
enabling the official registering of products, support for the
creation of GI in promising value chains).
The same methodology for each product:
A
gree on the uniqueness of a product and its intrinsic quality,
even if a further step to improve the final quality is necessary;
D
efine and limit the GI’s production area;
O
rganize producers and also other professionals connected to
the product, meaning the whole producer-manufacturertrader/exporter chain, which has to adopt a charter
(production, transformation and conservation rules etc.);
S upport professional associations, which ensure the charter is
respected and prepare their members for external controls
enforced by the States or international organisations
responsible for agreeing and maintaining or removing the
designation.

AFD is present on four continents where it has an international network of
seventy agencies and representation offices, including nine in the French Overseas
Provinces and one in Brussels. It finances and supports projects that improve
people’s living conditions, promote economic growth and protect Earth, such as
schooling for children, maternal health, support for farmers and small businesses,
water supply, tropical forest preservation, and the fight against climate change.
In 2012, AFD approved EUR 7 billion to finance activities in developing countries
and the French Overseas Communities. Main outcomes of AFD’s funding are
monitored every year. For instance, money delivered will help get 10 million
children into primary school and 3 million into secondary school; they will also
improve drinking water supply for 1.79 million people. Energy efficiency projects
financed by AFD in 2012 will save nearly 3.6 million tons of carbon dioxide
emissions annually.

www.proparco.fr

PROPARCO, AFD’s subsidiary dedicated to private investment, promotes private
investment in emerging and developing countries in order to boost growth,
promote sustainable development and reach the Millennium Development
Goals. Its financing is tailored to the specific needs of investors in the
productive sector, financial systems, infrastructure and private equity investment.

FFEM

www.ffem.fr

FFEM is a bilateral public facility set up by the French Government in 1994
following the Rio Summit. It aims at promoting global environmental protection
via sustainable development projects in developing or transition countries. The
French Global Environment Facility supports physical projects in recipient
countries. Its operations are learning-based and support experimental, innovative
or exemplary approaches.

This publication was printed in an environmentally responsible
manner using vegetable-based ink and PEFC™ paper,
chain of custody n° 19-32-319 (sustainable forest management).

Agence Française de Développement (French Development Agency – AFD)
is a public development finance institution that has been working to fight
poverty and foster economic growth in developing countries and the French
Overseas Communities for seventy years. It executes the policy defined by
the French Government.